Knife scabbard construction



Jan. I6, 1968 E. A. EASTMAN 3,363,813 1 KNIFE S CABBARD CONS TRUCT ION Filed Sept. 29, 1966 INVENTOR Ed ward A. [as #man United States Patent O 3,363,813 KNIFE SCABB RD CONSTRUCTION Edward A. Eastman, Independence, Mo., assignor to Locknife, Inc., Independence, Mo., a corporation of Missouri Filed Sept. 29, 1966, Ser. No. 582,944 2 Claims. (Cl. 224-2) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLGSURE A knife scabbard comprising leather front and back pieces between which are interposed a pair of liners of material resistant to metal corrosive substances. The edge of the rearmost liner is disposed beneath and in spaced relationship from the knife hilt and the leather back piece extends upwardly beyond the edge of the rear liner along the knife handle to present 'an outwardly yieldable zone in the backpiece to accommodate for the knife hilt.

This invention relates to knife scabbards and, more particularly, to a scabbard which is constructed with protective liner means for preventing corrosion of the knife blade from deleterious substances present in the leather.

It has long been widely recognized that leather is well suited as a material for making knife scabbards. This material is often chosen for scabbard construction because of its utilitarian characteristics and 'also because of the pleasing aesthetic appearance of scabbards made from leather. However, certain substances used in tanning leather remain in the leather and are corrosive to the steel from which knife blades are made. Such corrosion occurs when the knife blade remains in intimate contact with the leather over relatively long periods of time and particularly, in the presence of moisture.

Since knives which are carried in scabbards are often used outdoors and during all kinds of weather, they may frequently encounter `conditions which contribute to rapid corrosion of the knife blade. It is, therefore, the primary object of this invention to provide a knife scabbard which is provided with a novel liner to protect the blade from contact with the corrosive substances contained in leather.

It is another important object of this invention to provide such a protective liner constructed from nondeleterions materials which does not detract from the aesthetic lappearance of the scabbard.

Still a further object of the instant invention is the provision of a scabbard provided with a protective liner configured to permit the leather to flex as required when in use, thereby avoiding undue stress in the leather which might otherwise result from the presence of the liner.

These and other important objects of this invention will be further explained or will become apparent from the following specification and appended claims.

In the drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational View of -a scabbard embodying the principles of the present invention, a knife being shown in place in the scabbard;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary, cross-sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1; taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, cross-sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 1, the knife being omitted for clarity;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged, fragmentary, exploded, perspective view of the blade-protecting liners;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary, side elevational view of a modified form of scabbard on the same scale as FIG. 2; and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary view similar to FIG. l illustrating the scabbard throng in position for securing the scabbard to la support.

Cil

3,363,813 Patented Jan. 16, 1968 A scabbard embodying the principles of this invention broadly designated by the numeral 10 in FIGS. 1-3 in clude a leather backpiece 12, a leather frontpiece 14, and a pair of liners 16 and 18 sandwiched between front and backpieces 12 fand 14 as illustrated most clearly in FIGS. 2 and 3. Liners 16 and 18 are constructed from any of a number of available materials which are noncorrosive to steel when placed in intimate contact with the blade 20 of knife 22. It has been found that liners constructed of phenolic brous material are well suited for this purpose.

Front liner 16 is of generally transversely U-shaped configuration as illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4 and includes a pair of outwardly extending legs 24 integral with a bight 26. Flanges 28 at either edge of liner 16 bear against the front surface of rear liner 18 when the scabbard is assembled between front and backpieces 14 and 12 to present a knife blade-receiving pocket therebetween. Suitable stitching 30 secures the liners between the leather and apertures 32 in the liners may be provided for rivets 34 Vto add additional stability to the construction of the scabbar-d.

Front liner 16 terminates at the upper edge of frontpiece 14. However, the upper edge 36 of rear liner 18 is cutaway so that edge 36 is spaced well below the corresponding edge of liner 16 and the edge of frontpiece 14 as illustrated in FIG. 2. This presents a zone in backpiece 12 between the hilt 38 of the knife and edge 36 of liner 18, said zone being yieldable outwardly at the mouth of the scabbard to accommodate for the width of the hilt when the knife 22 is in place in scabbard 10. This zone of ilexing also permits the scabbard to swing when backpiece 12 is secured as to a belt or the like. This swinging does not create stresses in the leather which would have a tendency to cut the leather if the edge 36 extended into the vicinity of the upper edge of front liner 16.

In the `construction of scabbard 10, a lead-in apron 40 for scabbard 10 underlies a portion of the handle of knife 22 and extends well down into the mouth of the scabbard presented between the upper edges of liners 16 and 18. The lowermost edge of apron 40 is tapered as illustrated in FIG. 2 whereby the uppermost portion of liner 18 is embedded between the layers of leather without substantial closing of the mouth of the scabbard. A leather flap 42 is riveted between the ripper ends of the backpiece 12 and apron 4t). Flap 42 carries a snap fastener 44 which cooperates with a retainer 46 carried at the end of the knife handle for securing a knife in scabbard 10.

It has been found that factors of safety make desirable the provision of metallic reinforcements in the nature of a cap 48 and a band S0 riveted to the leather components of scabbard 10. These metallic reinforcing members prevent any possibility of blade penetrating both the phenolic fibrous liners and the leather where the blade could inadvertently do serious damage.

It is often desirable to provide a thong such as 52 for use either in securing knife 22 to the users wrist or the like, or in securing the scabbard to a support or to the wearers leg. To this end, scabbard 10 may be provided with a pair of apertures `54 in flap 42 and a pair of apertures 56 passing through the metallic members 14, front and backpieces 14 and 12, and liners 16 and 18. The thong can then be threaded through apertures -54 and 56 as illustrated in FIG. 1, thereby insuring that thong 52 is readily available whenever needed.

Reference may be had to FIG. 6 for a showing of the manner in which the thong 52 can be threaded through apertures 56 for securing scabbard 10 to the leg of the user of knife 22.

Referring now to FIG. 5, the scabbard is similar to scabbard It) with the exception that apron extends the full length of the knife handle and carries the fastener 144 for securing the knife in the scabbard. In such event, backpiece H2 is looped upon itself and secured to apron 140 as illustrated to present the belt loop in much the same manner as the belt loop provided between apron liti and backpiece 12 of scabbard 10.

Scabbard M0 may be provided with liners M5 and 11S which are identical to liners i6 and 18. It will be noted that both seabbard l() and scabbard 11G are thereby provided with noncorrosive liners in intimate Contact with the knife blade, yet the liners are not visible except at the extreme edges of the scabbard. Accordingly, the scabbard retains the appearance of being constructed from leather, yet obtains the benecial advantage of having the knife blade fully protected from the corrosive effects of substances contained in the leather. It should be pointed out that the contact of the lowermost edges of aprons 40' and 140 which project into the mouths ofthe scabbards 10 and 110 is against the uppermost portion of the knife blade. This portion is ordinarily a zone between the actual sharpened portion of the blade and the hilt of the knife. Such marginal contact is negligible and will have little or no corrosive effect on the blade of the knife. The location of this portion of leather adjacent the sc-abbard mouth permits rapid drying to retard the action of corrosive substances in the leather.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

l. A scabbard for a knife having a handle provided with a hilt and a blade extending beyond the hilt, said blade being of a material susceptible to corrosive substances present in leather, said scabbard comprising:

la leather backpiece;

a leather frontpiece;

a front and rear liner of material resistant to metal corrosive substances present in the leather and sandwiched between the backpiece and the frontpiece,

said liners having elongated edges at the uppermost ends thereof spaced to present an entrance mouth for said blade with the edge of the front liner being disposed to present a rest for said hilt and the edge of the rear liner being disposed beneath and spaced from said hilt; and

means securing the frontpiece to the backpiece with the liners therebetween to form a pocket between the liners for said blade, said backpiece extending upwardly beyond said edge of the re-ar liner along the handle, presenting a zone in the backpiece between the hilt and said edge of the rear liner, the backpiece zone being yieldable outwardly at said mouth to accommodate for said hilt.

2. The invention of claim 1, wherein said rear liner has an area adjacent said edge thereof embedded within the backpiece.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 735,329 3/1905 Powell 224-2 331,770 9/1906 Bragg 224-2 2,650,003 3/1953 Morgan 224-2 GERALD M. FORLENZA, Primary Examiner.

R. J. SPAR, Assistant Examiner. 

